16 Laws of Psychological Power (Inspired by Robert Greene)

[Music] hey everyone and welcome to top think today we're going to learn about 16 laws of psychological power now let's begin number one stand above good work goes unrecognized if you want to gain power a good work ethic is not enough putting in long hours can easily be overlooked the people who find power and success are the people who work hard and get recognized if you don't stand out you'll blend into the background your work will be overshadowed and forgotten no matter how excellent you are so take every opportunity to lead and prove yourself if you stand out you can achieve your goals ahead of the rest number two hide your intentions imagine you're buying a new car at the dealership a car salesman shows you a model that you absolutely love you tell the salesman how eager you are to own this car the salesman knows your intentions so he raises the price why because you gave him the power in the conversation that's why it's so important to hide your intentions all right let's go back to our example you love the car but this time you act like you just don't care now you have the power the salesman has to convince you to buy from him most of the time salesmen will drive down the price just to win you over so if you want to gain psychological power hide your intentions hold the power in every exchange make the final decision because you want to stay in control give someone just enough details to stay interested but keep your true intentions to yourself number three actions over arguments you can argue as long and as hard as you want you can take home the moral victory but winning an argument achieves almost nothing to gain psychological power don't waste your time arguing if someone wants to argue let them if they get defensive let them nurse their own ego but you know that actions speak louder than words your behavior will win over more people than a good argument ever will number four mind your words the more you speak the less valuable your speech becomes this is one of the most important laws of psychological power if you speak only when necessary you increase the power of your words people will learn to listen to you they'll learn to take you seriously and you'll earn their undying respect so if you speak less you also stop yourself from making clumsy mistakes many people run their mouths and then back themselves into a corner they leak details or make promises they can't actually keep so if you're mindful of what you say you avoid these pointless mistakes you ensure that every word is intentional and purposeful and that gives you psychological power number five cultivate confidence your path will be littered with obstacles failures and setbacks your luck will run out people will tell you to quit and your own brain will stand in your own way but the people who give up deprive themselves of psychological power so if you want to improve cultivate confidence in your life let your small successes empower your self-worth let each victory give you the courage to overcome your next obstacle psychological power isn't just your relationship with others it's also how you treat and motivate yourself number six hire your enemies friends are dangerous on your path towards success we turn a blind eye to our friends we overlook their mistakes and put too much trust in their decisions just when you think you trust someone they stab you in the back and your career begins to suffer instead of getting blindsided by people you trust earn the loyalty of people that you don't you may not like your enemies but hiring someone you don't trust gives you a clear-headed objectivity your enemies will also show you more loyalty because they have something to prove friends are an important part of your life but friends can steal your power in a heartbeat number seven people are selfish if you need a favor don't expect people to be selfless people are more likely to help when they have something to gain if they don't get as much as they give then you're out of luck any time you ask for a favor don't waste your time with kindness or gratitude appeal to their self-interest explain how they'll be rewarded convince them that helping you will solve their problem make sure they know exactly how they're going to benefit in the future if someone thinks they're helping themselves they're much more likely to do you a favor number eight avoid commitment avoid unnecessary promises commitments get people in trouble they lock you into one side they trap you in a box if your team goes down you'll go down with them that's why powerful people avoid commitments they stay open to multiple sides angles and perspectives they keep one foot in every camp so they can make the most out of every situation powerful people always stay on top because they're only committed to one person themselves number nine play yourself down everyone wants to feel intelligent if you want to win people over make sure they feel smart sometimes that means you have to play dumb but you already know you're intelligent the fact that you can play dumb means that you have nothing to prove to put it simply most people don't care how intelligent you are all they care about is their own brain power so play into their hands make them feel smart give them confidence in their own ideas you'll only make enemies by proving your intelligence number 10 support your superiors if you want to climb the ladder you have to respect the latter don't try to outshine the people above you these people will be stepping stones on your road to success you need their help so don't turn your superiors against you support your boss be their right-hand man not their rival when the next great opportunity comes your superiors will recognize and recommend their allies not their enemies now sometimes this means making your bosses feel smarter than they are sometimes this means giving them too much credit for something you really did but if you want to be successful never forget to support your superiors number 11 stay concentrated to find psychological power don't just identify your strengths develop them many people can do many things at an average level but they're so busy jumping from skill to skill that they rarely specialize in anything specialties are one of the keys to success if you concentrate on one strength you can build a talent unlike anyone else's and in the same way if you want to build psychological power don't spread yourself too thin concentrate on one direction one project or one purpose invest yourself wholly in that one direction it's a bigger risk but with enough dedication your reward will be exponentially greater number 12 effortless achievement what do you say after finishing a huge project do you tell people how hard you worked or do you say it was no problem to gain psychological power play down your achievements make each accomplishment seem easy and natural because people will believe you even if you invested countless hours into your work show the world someone who's confident and collected you should never forget how hard you worked but the world doesn't need to know number 13 the giant shadow are you succeeding a legend do you have gigantic shoes to fill this is a big problem on the surface filling a large void seems like a fantastic opportunity however if your predecessor did amazing things you have your work cut out for you to get the same level of recognition you have to surpass the person who came before you depending on the job that may be almost impossible so don't fill the shoes of a legend instead be the person who brings your team back from the brink fill the void of someone who failed and your success will shine twice as brightly number 14 set anger aside do you lose your temper anger's a destructive emotion on your road towards success anger makes you impulsive narrow-minded and selfish if someone makes you angry they know they've gotten the best of you they know they've hit a nerve so they'll keep pushing instead of getting angry grow distance ambivalence is a far greater punishment than anger when you ignore someone you steal their power you force them to get your attention you make them do the work strong emotions will hurt your decision making and help others take advantage of you so keep your frustrations to yourself stay calm and stay objective whenever possible number 15 the calm rush time is a common source of psychological power the most powerful people are masters of timing and time management not only do they pack incredible amounts of work into their daily schedules they never let their busy days get the best of them at least not on the outside they always seem cool calm and collected they're never rushing or sweating they're always patient with their work and their goals because rushing is a recipe for disaster it creates anxiety and it hurts your reputation instead of letting time control you stay in control of your time your psychological power depends on it number 16 calculated value they say the best things in life are free but if you want psychological power you'll need to spend money when it counts some things are worth paying for even if it's just a name or a title the effect of that name or title is worth all the money in the world it's okay to be cheap and cost effective in your personal life however if you want to climb the ladder you cannot cut corners hey thank you for watching top think and be sure to subscribe because more incredible content is on the way

Channel: TopThink

Views: 2,286,754

Rating: 4.9254799 out of 5

Keywords: psychological laws, psychological facts, psychology tricks, laws of power

Id: qS_VWG3JEZg

Length: 10min 37sec (637 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 23 2020